


Thoughts on the Horocruxes

by ChokolatteJedi



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Meta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-02-08
Updated: 2006-02-08
Packaged: 2017-12-14 09:05:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/835148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChokolatteJedi/pseuds/ChokolatteJedi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thoughts on the Horocruxes</p>
            </blockquote>





	Thoughts on the Horocruxes

While talking to Harry the night of the felix felicis, Dumbledore makes many assumptions about Voldemort’s horcruxes. The first is that he intended to make seven. This point is easily backed up by Slughorn’s memory and what the two know about Tom’s past and personality. The second assumption is that all seven have already been made. Since Tom was nothing if not thorough and he certainly killed more than enough people during his first reign to make seven horcruxes, this can also be taken pretty much as fact. The next assumptions regard the identities of the horcruxes:

 **Horcrux 1:**  
This is the sixteen year old Riddle, preserved in the diary. Significant in that he proves once and for all that Tom was indeed the Heir of Slytherin. This is a great honor that he could not claim as a student for obvious reasons, which must have galled him. Also, if he was already interested in having trophies of the Founders, he might have thought of the diary as a good stand in for Ravenclaw until he could one of her actual belongings (Ravenclaws are known for being studious, after all). This horcrux has already been destroyed by Harry four years ago.

 **Horcrux 2:**  
The second horcrux was contained in the ring of Slytherin, hidden in the abandoned Gaunt shack. This item, as a link to Salazar and Tom’s wizarding family, was also very significant to him. Dumbledore destroyed it during Harry’s sixth year at the cost of his hand. (Ironic considering that Harry was wounded in the arm in the process of destroying the diary.)

 **Horcrux 3:**  
The third horcrux is said to be in the gold locket that Harry and Dumbledore seek at the end of the book. While the locket they find is a fake, it is extrapolated by most that the real one was seen in the purging of Grimmauld Place in book five and that it is either still in one of the rooms, Kretcher’s den, or with Mundungus or Aberforth. Thus we can say with some conviction that this horcrux is identified.

 **Horcrux 4:**  
Dumbledore and Harry speculate that another horcrux can be found in Hufflepuff’s cup, as this is an important artifact of the Founders, like the locket, and therefore of equal significance to the sentimental young Voldemort. There is no evidence in canon to directly refute this, so we will for the moment assume their extrapolation to be true.

 **Horcrux 5:**  
Many fans have speculated that Nagini, Voldemort’s familiar, is the fifth horcrux. At the time of the horcruxs’ creation, Voldemort was the only speaker of Parseltongue, so she could tell no one if this was the case. He is clearly fond of her, as she curls up at his feet much like a pet dog (GF1) and we have seen Voldemort take possession of her (OP21). Therefore, there is indication of a deep connection between wizard and snake, so much so that he might be willing to entrust a piece of his soul to her. Also, the fact that she is a “twelve foot wide” python meant that she would certainly not be as vulnerable to death (and therefore the loss of the horcrux) as another creature might be. (GF1)

 **Horcrux 6:**  
This piece is easy, as Dumbledore explicitly tells us that one piece of Voldemort’s soul is in the Dark Lord’s current body. This is the bit of soul that we’ve seen since book one, on the back of Quirell’s head, then as a baby in book four, and as a full grown man since the Third Task. Dumbledore is under the impression that this is the original piece of Voldemort’s soul, the same piece that was seen in during his first rise.

This would leave a seventh Horcrux still out there somewhere, waiting for someone like Hermione to figure out what and where it is (Possibly Albania, as there are many references to Voldemort spending time there between his risings). However, I have a different idea about the identity and status of this final Horcrux. First I will attempt to disprove some of the theories about it and then I shall explain my guess.

 **Godric’s Sword:**  
If Tom was indeed seeking an object to represent each Founder, it has been speculated that this item would be perfect for him. So either Tom pulled the sword out of the hat and then put it back in with the new horcrux, or he had it to begin with and merely placed it in the hat later. The first option is, I believe, impossible, because Dumbledore says that “Only a true Gryffindor” could have pulled Godric’s sword out of the sorting hat. As the Heir of Slytherin and with the evil _intentions_ of making a horcrux (Albus always reminds us that choices are almost, if not more, important than genetics) it’s _highly_ unlikely that the hat would have willingly given up the sword to Tom, even if he somehow discovered its identity and whereabouts.

So we are left with the idea that he placed it there. The only times Tom could have done that are when he came back to ask for the DADA job or when he was a student. The diary horcrux had to have been made when Tom was sixteen and opening the chamber (coinciding nicely with Myrtle’s death) and he would have needed to kill someone. Since Myrtle is the only student we know of who died in his last few years at Hogwarts (after he learned about horcruxes) it does not seem likely that he created a second horcrux while at school. Since he also could not perform magic outside of school as a minor, he can rule out him creating the horcrux during hols and planting it in the school later.

Thus he would have had to have made the sword horcrux after leaving Hogwarts. In which case, he could only have placed the sword in the hat while applying for a job, and Dumbledore did not give him a chance for that, as seen in his memories. Therefore, it is fairly impossible for the Sword of Godric to be the horcrux. But I bet he’s just kicking himself now for not getting his hands on that bit of Founder treasure. ;)

 **Harry Potter:**  
Likewise, many readers think that the final horcrux may be hidden in Harry, more specifically, his scar. If this were the case, then killing Harry would destroy the horcrux, something that Voldemort definitely does not want to happen. He would not spend so much time trying to kill Harry if the boy contained a bit of the Dark Lord’s soul, so I believe he can be ruled out.

The other horcrux possibilities I have heard have not, in my opinion, been as plausible as the ones listed above, as the items/creatures are either too vulnerable or already disposed of. Therefore I shall now move on to my theory on the final horcrux.

 **The Final Horcrux:**  
It really all begins with Hagrid’s apt description of the Dark Lord, when he talks with the eleven year old Harry: 

"Some say he died. Codswallop, in my opinion. Dunno if he had enough human in him left to die. Some say he's still out there, bidin' his time, like, but I don' believe it... (m)ost of us reckon he's still out there somewhere but lost his powers. Too weak to carry on." (Hagrid, PS4)

The first opinion we have of Voldemort is that he isn’t really dead, but out there somewhere, waiting for his moment to rise again. So let’s assume that Hagrid is right, since we know that Voldemort returns. If he is this astral being, waiting to take over a lesser minion like Quirrell, why not do it immediately? There were other Death Eaters in Godric’s Hollow when the Potters were attacked; why not posses one of them?

Indeed, Wormtail’s will is as weak as Quirrell’s, and since he just showed his true colors, you would think he would be more than happy to be a host for his temporarily inconvenienced Master. So why didn’t Voldemort stay in Britain where he had plenty of followers looking for him? Why go all the way to Albania of all places?

Well I believe that comes from the other part of Hagrid’s line: “Dunno if he had enough human in him left to die.” The Voldemort who attacked that night only had a seventh of a soul, not much human at all. And maybe that was the problem. Not only did Harry have a whole soul, but his mother had just died for him. Ancient magics allowed him to survive and “rebound” the curse, so is it possible that he actually did kill one less-than-human piece of Voldemort that night?

“My curse was deflected by the woman’s foolish sacrifice, and it rebounded upon myself. Aaah… pain beyond pain, my friends; nothing could have prepared me for it. I was ripped from my body, I was less than a spirit, less than the meanest ghost… but still, I was alive. What I was, even I do not know… I, who have gone further than anybody along the path that leads to immortality. You know my goal – to conquer death. And now, I was tested, and it appeared that one or more of my experiments had worked… for I had not been killed, though the curse should have done it.” (Voldemort, GF33)

Alright, so Voldemort says that the AK rebounded on him, there was pain, he was ripped from his body. This certainly sounds like death, except that the AK is supposed to be painless. The rebounded curse should not have caused any pain, which means something else had to have caused that “pain beyond pain” Voldemort felt (GF33). So what if he died, and the pain was the transferring of consciousness from one piece of soul to another? He says he was less than a spirit, a ghost, which, as we know, is the imprint of a whole soul, not a partial one.

Voldemort says that he has gone further towards immortality, and that when tested, one of his experiments worked. Could this experiment be one of his horcruxes then? The test being the switch from one sliver of soul to another? He said he was not killed, but quite likely he means that the entire entity of Voldemort was not killed, though one piece was sacrificed. This meaning certainly fits with the rest of his speech, about how the curse should have worked.

Also, if Voldemort was transferred to another sliver of soul, hidden and protected, then he would not be near the Death Eaters who participated in the attack or who were at his headquarters, they were probably miles away. Knowing how weak Voldemort claims to have been during that period, it is unlikely that he traveled all the way from England to Albania (over 1,000 miles). However, if his soul was starting from Greece, Southwestern Italy, or Romania, then the distance to the “forests of Albania” would have been much more manageable (only 100-200 miles).

He said he moved to where he thought his Death Eaters would find him. If the horcrux had indeed been as well hidden as the others appeared to have been, then he would have needed to move from the hiding spot to somewhere more accessible. The forest provided this accessibility while also supplying shelter and prey in the interim. All of this fits with what is said in the graveyard scene (GF33).

So if we follow this logic, then that means that the first horcrux was permanently destroyed Halloween of ‘81. This Voldemort is not, as Albus thinks, the sixth bit of soul but the seventh. If Harry can find and destroy the locket, the cup, and Nagini, he will then be able to proceed strait to the current Voldemort, without worrying about another hidden piece of Riddle’s soul coming out later in a third rising.

 **Final Note:**  
All of that said, there is a small chance that Voldemort unintentionally transferred a bit of his soul to baby Harry at the time of the backfired AK. This could also partially explain the extreme pain he suffered, as well as his ability to bring pain to Harry's scar and Harry's ability to speak Parseltongue (if this is indeed from Voldemort and not inherited from the Squib Evans line or some other plot twist). Thus, there might be one other, less than a seventh, piece of unintentional horocrux hidden inside Harry, which would need to be dealt with before/during the final battle. However, I can't imagine that this was an intentional thing, and thus have discounted it from the list of official horocruxes above.


End file.
